Speaking of timing in Bertha, anyone out there know for sure how those pauses followed by Bams! (for lack of a better term) work out towards the end of the song in those versions that were more uptempo and rocking (later ones I think). April 13, 1988 is an okay example but there are better ones.

You know,

"test me test me (bam!) why don't you arrest me"

"take me to the jailhouse (pause - bam!) 'till the sun goes down"

I believe the "bams" start on the second solo verse and continue through the last vocal verse. The thing is though, they (the bams!)fall on different beats.

That's the same problem that has been screwing me up on that song too. I am getting ok at playing it and then they do that slam on the C chord and I get lost every time. A good example of them doing that is on the "Truckin' up to Buffalo" DVD.

theres a really good video of bertha on youtube from July 4th, 1989 i think(someone lettme know if I am wrong), that pans across the stage and really shows you what everyones doing. But everytime the BAM! comes, jerry is smiling, its pretty cool. I would watch that and see if it helps

GratefulPat, I watched your video last night on this song, and you need to get your rhythm much more full stroked, and get the timing mentality shifted from, and I suck at this describing stuff, thirty seconds eths to sixty forths eths.

Your arm should be coming across the strings with REAL bravado if you want to get to the BAM style.

When you get the BAM really down, there is no question as to when it happens, it is floating in mid air with upstroke flourishes suspending it, but the strings don't even get hit, and then it happens. When you play like this, you will notice that your chording hand has a much tigher grip on the neck, the chords are held tightly, and you own the moment.

So try to throw in double the rhythm strokes as an experiment and see if you can tame it.

Think of a strobe light on a turning motor. You can stop the motor in suspended motion, but if you double the strobe's frequency, you can stop the motor again, but everything seems even more surreal.

For what it's worth, I find it helps in getting the timing down to play the single note base run on the A string (A>B>C) after the G chord then bam on the C chord then slide up to a barred C chord on the 5th fret then another bam.

on a side note, those bams always send shivers up my spine, soooo amazing. i always wonder who in the band first came up with the idea, i was thinking probably bobby and the drummers, but there's no real way to know i think...

"Once in awhile, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - R. Hunter

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." - Jerry Garcia

pappypgh wrote:The BAMS are the same every time (well, they tried to make them the same every time...sometimes you could hear them screw it up). But here is your formula, of which I am 100& positive, is accurate:

Think of the number 8. That's your count...

"I had a hard run - runnin' from your window", including the G>C>G >C>G >C>G directly afterwards, would be a total of 32 beats, OR 4 measures of 8. Got it?

Okay...when soloing, your order is this:

solo over verse > solo over chorus > solo over verse > sing chorus.

Now let's pick apart your FIRST VERSE OF SOLO:

You play the FIRST 2 LINES (2 sets of 4 measures of 8 ) completely normally.

The THIRD LINE, you accent the 2nd BEAT of the FIRST AND SECOND MEASURE OF 8, playing the 3rd & 4th measures of 8 normally.

The FOURTH LINE, you accent the 3rd BEAT of the FIRST AND SECOND MEASURE OF 8, playing the 3rd & 4th measures of 8 normally, leading into the SOLO OVER THE CHORUS...

SECOND SOLO OF VERSE:

You play the FIRST 2 LINES (2 sets of 4 measures of 8 ) completely normally.

The THIRD LINE, you accent the 4th BEAT of the FIRST AND SECOND MEASURE OF 8, playing the 3rd & 4th measures of 8 normally.

The FOURTH LINE, you accent the 5th BEAT of the FIRST AND SECOND MEASURE OF 8, playing the 3rd & 4th measures of 8 normally.

You're ALMOST DONE, NOW!!

During the LAST VERSE OF SINGING, you play thusly:

Play the FIRST 2 LINES normally

The THIRD LINE, you accent the 2nd BEAT of the FIRST AND SECOND MEASURE OF 8, playing the 3rd & 4th measures of 8 normally.

The FOURTH LINE, you accent the 4th BEAT of the FIRST AND SECOND MEASURE OF 8, playing the 3rd & 4th measures of 8 normally.

THAT'S IT, FOLKS!!! Any questions? Feel free to PM me.

Ya, can you put it in tab for me? and a video? and a donut? and a coffee with 3 sugars and 2 creams, skim milk foam too. Oh and a lesson. And a trip to PGH?

"Once in awhile, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - R. Hunter

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." - Jerry Garcia

"Once in awhile, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - R. Hunter

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." - Jerry Garcia